The Rotary Club of Plainfield- North Plainfield recently presented scholarship awards to twenty-three graduating seniors at North Plainfield High School and at Plainfield High School.. The Rotary club awarded $11,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors at North Plainfield High School, $16,860 to seniors at Plainfield High School, and another $11,000 through the Adele deLeeuw Scholarship Fund.
The local club sponsors its own F. S. Mathewson Rotary Scholarship, awarding a total of $8,000 to students in the two high schools in its service area. “Eight scholarships were awarded in memory of Matty Mathewson, the first member of our club to serve as District Governor,” said club president Ravenell Williams IV.
The Rotary club targets the Mathewson Scholarship award to members of the North Plainfield High School Interact Club, the youth service club of Rotary.
“Members of Interact work very hard on many service projects of their own, including highly successful blood drives, community youth activities, food bank support, and many others,” said Mr. Williams. “The members also work at our Club’s garden plots at the Giving Garden in Warren, helping us raise fresh vegetables for the hungry. They also help us raise money during the year for our scholarship program, giving rise to recognition of that hard work with these special scholarships.” The Mathewson Rotary Scholarships were presented to Brenda Okereke, Molly Appezzato, Marisol Hernandez, and Helen Pazmino Nunez. Brenda Okereke also received the Paul Henry Memorial Scholarship, a late member of the Rotary Club. The award was presented by Paul’s widow, Joan Henry, and their two sons. Three North Plainfield high school students both current and former graduates received a total of $7,500 in scholarships from the Adele DeLeeuw Scholarship Fund at a dinner held Wednesday, June 8th, at the Spain Inn in Piscataway. The scholarships are financed by a bequest from Adele DeLeeuw, longtime Plainfield resident, author of 75 books, journalist, and arts activist.
Brenda Okereke was the scholarship recipient from the graduating class of 2016. The Scholarship Fund also provided a continuing scholarship to college student Melody Njoku. This year’s Adele DeLeeuw Senior Scholars, college students who were recognized as a scholarship recipient from the Fund for each of their four years in college included Charlotte Brockway. An additional nineteen students from area high schools received scholarships from the Fund.
The Club also awards scholarships on behalf of the Plainfield Foundation, a community-based non-profit that awards funding to benefit local community groups. This year, the Rotarians awarded $4,000 from the Leo Albert Friese Scholarship Fund to North Plainfield High students Jasmine Chavez and John Hatala. The Friese Scholarships are awarded to graduating seniors who will pursue a major course of study in science.
The Rotary Club of Plainfield-North Plainfield, founded in 1921, has served the community for over 95 years. Members are community and business leaders in the area who meet weekly on Wednesdays at 12:15 pm at Giovanna’s Restaurant in Plainfield. Rotarians work on community service, vocational service, and international service projects throughout the year, with their main focus on community service in Plainfield and in North Plainfield.
Contact Michael Townley, club secretary, at rotarypnp@verizon.net for additional information about the Rotary Club and its activities or to inquire about membership, or visit the Club’s website at www.rotarypnp.org or its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RotaryPNP.
(above, top, l-r) Christopher Silva (WHRHS),
Rebecca Mehorter (SPFHS),
Anthony Raphael (WHRHS),
Nicholas Ruzicka (SPFHS),
Cody Decker (SPFHS);
(middel, l-r) Stephanie Bohn (SPFHS),
Tyler Curtis (SPFHS),
Thomas Riccardi (SPFHS),
Nolan Berry (SPFHS);
(bottom, l-r) Charlotte Brockway (NPHS),
Emily London (SPFHS),
Melody Njoku (NPHS).
